Seattle Schools Community Forum

Here's are some notes from the press conference and follow-ups from it.

From the Seattle Times comes this story about how much money it is costing to review the Facilities department.  Sigh. Yes, it wasn't just the Silas Potter-connected programs but the whole thing is getting a good look-see.  From the article: While the district's initial consulting contract was $25,000, the scope of work quickly grew. The district extended the contract three times for varying amounts that now total $162,000, according to records obtained by The Seattle Times under the state's public records act. I have to wonder, out of all the things the Times could investigate, how they picked this one but fine. It's a great thing, frankly, because ALL of Facilities and Capital Projects should get this look.  It's disturbing to listen to Board Committee discussions on these topics and get worried about where the money is going.  From the article: The hiring of the consultants and the scope of their work indicate the department was more troubled than ...

First up, a commentary from David Brewster over at Crosscut about the upcoming elections citywide.   It gets so much wrong about the School Board that Charlie and I just couldn't stop ourselves.   I'll just hit the highlights: It was different with the Seattle School Board , where all four members of a particularly inept board were swept away (or declined to run) by an informal slate of business-backed, big-organization-experienced newcomers. The result was a transformed board. It changed overnight from a board dominated by petty bickering, meddling, superintendent-undermining, inexperienced bumblers. This time there is a swarm of challengers. I don't know much about them yet, but none seems to have much community stature.  I wouldn't call the previous majority on the Board inept at all but throwing that at all four of them seems wrong (especially if you know those women).  I'm not sure what "big organizations" that Steve, Harium and Michael ...

Update:  The Times' editorial board weighed in today on this subject.   They are shocked! and appalled! to find this kind of thing happening.  Well, it may have happened under MGJ but some of the stock players are still there.  They end with this: The school district is developing a grim reputation for sloppy stewardship of tax dollars. A legacy with consequences. No kidding. It appears that Ron English, the interim General Counsel, is peeved over the Seattle Times' article about the sale of the MLK, Jr. building to First AME church. He is asking the Times for a retraction and a copy of the audiotape of the interview with him.

 From the Seattle Times and boy, these reporters pull no punches after they explain how Bush offered 3 times the money ($9.7M leased or $3.75 purchased) as First AME church who offered $2.4M (mostly in taxpayer dollars).  The reporters lay out the oddities: • The district staff changed the way it handled and evaluated offers for the building, which pushed the church's proposal to the head of the pack. • Then-Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson shot down The Bush School's high offer, at the same time urging voters to pass a $48 million levy. • One former district employee told The Seattle Times that her boss, Fred Stephens, director of the district's property division and an influential First AME congregant, was determined as early as 2007 to help the church get the school property. • The district did little to investigate the accuracy of the church's proposal — while closely scrutinizing and ultimately rejecting a similar, competing bid from another c...

The Times has a revealing article about Fred Stephens, former head of Facilities and Silas Potter's enabler/friend/supporter.  I was wondering when someone in the mainstream media might want to examine his record.  The Times does a fairly good job but does miss/leave out a few parts. For me, it jogs my memory back to several Board meetings.  (I keep most of the Board agenda's at meetings where I have spoken and so I can recall testimony from other speakers.)  The article starts off with African-American activists wanting more access/opportunities to bid on SPS construction contracts.

Updates:  first, I was wrong about the grant money for the purchase of MLK, Jr. bldg to First AME Church as partially coming from the Department of Commerce (where Fred Stephens now works).   I had gone off of a news report and did not double-check it myself.  It turns out it is a state fund that formerly had "commerce" in its name ( not the federal Department of Commerce) and there was my confusion.  My apologies.   Also, the KING 5 story says that someone in the community is going to the Auditor.  As of this date, only I have filed a request for them to look into it.  If you want an audit of this sale, fill out the form here at the State Auditor's website.   Keep in mind, I feel certain the sale is a done deal BUT it may be a good idea to make sure everything was done properly.  We don't know precisely how Fred Stephens recused himself, if it was just something verbal, then he may have felt justified in receiving update e-mails on the...

The district has announced the appointment of Robert Boesche as interim CFO for SPS. From the district's news release: Boesche, who started his job Monday, has served as an interim Chief Financial Officer for several Puget Sound school districts, including Edmonds, Shoreline, Vashon Island, Monroe and Kent. He also was employed as Chief Financial Officer for the Northshore School District from June 1989 until he retired in November 2001. He looks like a "fixer" CFO. At least he has a lot of experience. The Times states that Pegi McEvoy, the director of health and safety, is the interim COO. It seems odd that the district didn't include this information with the press release about the CFO. I know Pegi and I like her but I have my doubts that she's the right person. Maybe as a placeholder because while I know she knows the district, her role in health and safety doesn't exactly qualify her for operations. I wish the district had released some more info o...

As other readers have shared, Mr. Potter has opened up. From what we have learned about his dealings and his personality, nothing is very surprising. In the Times' story , he says he believes he is being " thrown under the bus ." Silas, all of you are more like rats off a sinking ship. This is rapidly turning into "he said, he said, he said" with Dr. Goodloe-Johnson sitting in the corner speaking no evil, seeing no evil and hearing no evil. He's still in Tampa (has been since September) and: No law-enforcement officials have contacted him, and he said he would cooperate with them. Potter said he's ready for any fallout, even if he gets arrested. "If I have to serve time, OK," he said. From your lips to the King County prosecutor's ears, Silas. I'm hoping the King County prosecutor is giving the Times a ring today for his location. Also, he talks about himself in the third person. Shades of Bob Dole. About who is really at fa...

Charlie went over what he thought striking from the Board's Investigative report. Here's mine: Another factor that may have contributed to decisions by employees not to take their concerns to the Board was the communication protocol developed in conjunction with the Board and instituted by Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson. The communication protocol was intended to streamline requests for information between the Board and District employees and was not intended to cut off employees’ access to the Board. Although the policy explicitly encouraged employees to bring concerns relating to activities that were not in the best interest of the District to the attention of management and promised no negative repercussions for doing so, some employees, including the internal auditor, believed the policy prohibited employees from having direct contact with the Board or the Superintendent. (bold mine) We also discovered that the Superintendent plays no active role in the budget formatio...

Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Don Kennedy, the district's chief financial and operations officer, should have done more to ensure that the manager of the district's small-business program wasn't misusing district money, according to the attorney hired to determine who should be held accountable . This is what the report from the lawyer, Patty Eakes, who the Board hired to investigate the current scandal according to the Times . She does conclude that MGJ and Kennedy had limited knowledge of the program. (First, when did she interview the Super? On the phone? Second, every single program is supposed to be in their knowledge base.) She says: no evidence that anyone expressed their concerns to MGJ about the program beyond an unfavorable review of the program (somewhat a hilarious statement because really who would go to her? I can't think of anyone who might feel comfortable going to her with the attitude she projects). MGJ trus...